Studied
English and American Literature, Political Science, Philosophy and
Science of Sport at the Universities of Marburg and Frankfurt (Germany)
and English Literature at the University of Bristol (United Kingdom).
State Examination (1962) and Ph.D. with his thesis on The Modern
Indian Novel in English (1971).Teaching experience at Goethe-Institute Bad Aibling
(1963), Lecturer of German, Chandigarh/India (1963-64) and Delhi
University/India (1964-66); Research Assistant (1968-1971), Research
Associate (1971-72) and Professor of English Literature (1972-1999)
at Goethe-University Frankfurt. Lectureship Goethe-University (1993).
Set up the research/teaching centre "New Literatures
and Cultures in English" at the Institute of English and American
Studies, Goethe-University Frankfurt (1993).

Visiting
Professor at the Indian Institute of Technology (I.I.T.)
Madras (1983), Massey University, Palmerston North/New Zealand (1990
and 1994), Université Lumière Lyon 2 (1995) and Université
de Nice Sophia Antipolis (1997), both in France.Research grants and visits to Australia, Canada,
Ghana, India, Kenya, Nigeria and Sierra Leone. Lecture tours
to German and European universities, to Accra and Kumasi/Ghana,
Addis Ababa/Ethiopia, Harare/Zimbabwe, Khartoum/Sudan, Lagos and
Legon/Nigeria and Lusaka/Zambia; Bangalore, Bombay, Calcutta, Delhi,
Dharwar, Hyderabad, Madras, Mysore and Pune in India; Colombo/Sri
Lanka, Kathmandu/Nepal; Hongkong, Kuala Lumpur/Malaysia, Singapore;
Brisbane/Australia; Edmonton, Guelph, Winnipeg/Canada and Bellingham/USA.
Main research areas are the history and literary
historiography, theory and reception of English language literatures
from India, Africa, Australia and New Zealand/Aotearoa as well as
intercultural processes in Australia and New Zealand/Aotearoa. Current
research projects focus on the interdependence of aesthetic and
evolutionary psychological theory building (eco-aesthetics) with
reference to landscape poetry, writing and painting. Edited the Newsletter ACOLIT (1977-1999)
and co-edited ACOLIT Special (1995, 1996, 1998), African
Writers in Conversation (1983) and "African Literature
in the Eighties", Matatu, 10 (1993). Founding member of the "Society for the Promotion
of African, Asian and Latin American Literature" (1980), the
"Association for the Study of the New Literatures in English"
(1989) – and its Chairperson (1989-1993). Organizer
of the 1st and 10th Conference on Commonwealth Literature
(1977 and 1987) and of the Conference of the European Association
for Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies (1981), all in
Frankfurt.Co-organizer of the literary symposia "The
Function of Modern African Literature", (Focus Africa, The
Frankfurt Book Fair 1980), "India – Change in Tradition"
(Focus India, The Frankfurt Book Fair 1986), "Indian Writing
in the Seventies" (I.I.T. Madras 1983), "International
Symposium on Aboriginal Literature" (Düsseldorf 1993),
and presenter at "International Literature Days", Erlangen
in 1988, 1993 and 1997.